Prisoners
by Majandra1
Summary: When Tamahome is captured by bandits, Nuriko, Hotohori, and Tasuki must go rescue him. Rating may change. Future HxN. First fic, so it might suck. Sorry.
1. Default Chapter

Genre: Angst/Romance and if there was a third category, I'd say drama, too

Pairing: Nuriko and Hotohori

Warnings: This story will eventually contain shonen ai and maybe yaoi, and also descriptions of physical and mental abuse. If that's not your cup of tea don't blame me if you read, because I have warned you. J I hope you like it, though. Hopefully it's not so bad.

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PRISONERS

By Majandra

Nuriko stood at the edge of the throne room and watched.

He had long since stopped paying attention to what Hotohori was saying, speaking to his advisors with regard to the situation that had arisen with Kutou. He knew it was important, but he had long since stopped caring. All that seemed to matter was Hotohori; the smoothness of his skin, the almost feminine beauty of his features, the way he held his head. The flutter of his eyelashes as he spoke. The music of his voice, so gentle and yet so firm. 

How he wanted to feel those smooth hands against his own, those eyelashes brush against his cheek, that voice addressing him, and him alone. Not formally, as it had of late. But kind words. They didn't even have to be words of love. In a perfect world, well, they would be. That seemed too much to hope for, however, and so…just kind words, a casual embrace, perhaps. He had longed for someone to hold him for so long, just to hold him and say they cared for him, that it didn't matter anymore if that person cared for him in a romantic sense. He would be a lover, a friend, a brother, a sister…anything to bring him closer to the beautiful emperor. Was it so much to ask for a little tenderness in his life? He'd had so little of it, it didn't seem fair.

His dreams of Hotohori-sama were not, as one might expect, filled with lust and subconscious erotic pleasures. No. The very thought of _that_ made him blush, as Tasuki had discovered many times over. He dreamed of innocent kisses, holding hands in the moonlight, and sometimes, Hotohori-sama would tell him how much he loved him, how he had always loved him, and would never love anyone else. Hotohori-sama told him he was beautiful, and he shouldn't be ashamed when people teased him. But they were just dreams, and didn't mean anything.

As he watched the handsome man on the throne, though, he couldn't help but wonder if Hotohori had watched _him _in this way, and dreamed that maybe it was true.

With a sigh, he turned away from the throne, tearing his eyes away with difficulty. He couldn't keep doing this to himself. And yet…he thought it might be worse if he did. 

He hadn't really talked to Hotohori since his gender had been revealed, and he didn't know if he ever would. It would be hard to avoid him in the palace, of course. But Hotohori-sama had to know he loved him; he'd practically said as much when he was dressed as a woman. So until Hotohori made the effort to talk to _him_, he wasn't keen on conversation concerning his transgression. It was safer just to dream. 

He wondered how Tamahome and Miaka were doing. They had gone to visit Tamahome's family, and were supposed to be back that night. Nuriko missed them both. They were wonderful to talk to, and made him forget his own pains. Miaka always made him smile. She reminded him of his little sister, though she was a lot louder and much less refined than he knew Kourin would have been at her age. 

On his way back to his own room, he saw Tasuki walking the opposite way, and stuck out his tongue in passing. The bandit glared at him, but knew he was just teasing. It was funny how naturally he and Tasuki had become friends. They were almost like brothers, but hadn't known each other for very long at all. Maybe it had to do with being seishi. Whatever it was, Nuriko welcomed it. It was nice to have a friend.

"Stick that thing out at me and you're gonna get it cut off," Tasuki growled at his expression.

"Aw, but Tasuki-chan, how could I make fun of you if I didn't have a tongue?"

"Wouldn't stop you from punching me into the nearest wall."

"Nope." Nuriko grinned, his musings on Hotohori fading. "Are Miaka and Tamahome back yet?"

Tasuki shrugged. "They can take their time, as far's I'm concerned. Lot less lovey dovey crap around here now they're gone."

"That's for sure…" Nuriko laughed, when he was interrupted by a shout coming from the direction of the throne room. Turning around quickly, his eyes went wide. "Hotohori-sama!"

"What the hell's going on?" Tasuki muttered, worried, when the ruckus didn't stop. As if thinking as one, the two seishi hurried to the throne room. Bursting through the doors, they saw Miaka frantically clinging to Hotohori's robes, tears running down her cheeks.

"Miaka!" Nuriko exclaimed, wondering what was wrong.

She turned quickly and ran to him, throwing her arms around his waist. "Nuriko!" she sobbed. "They took him! They took Tamahome!"

Horrified, Nuriko looked up into Hotohori's eyes.

"What happened?" he gasped, forgetting for once how nervous Hotohori made him feel in light of this new problem.

TO BE CONTINUED

A/N Hi guys! This is my first story ever (I don't write a lot) so I hope you like it so far! It probably needs work and stuff but thanks for ignoring that for now. Haha. I think I rushed the last part and I'm sorry it's so short. I do have plans for where I want this to go and all you fans of Nuriko and Hotohori, hang on, because they're gonna get together. J Thanks for reading my story and review if you want to, but you don't have to. Ja!


	2. Two

A/N I forgot to say last time that this is a sort of AU! Sorry. They already have Chichiri, Mitsukake, and "Chiriko" (and you know who I mean), but they're back at the palace and it's basically TWT (Timeline? What timeline?) Sorry for any confusion!

"Miaka," Hotohori said gently, approaching the crying girl. "Miaka. Calm down. Tell us what happened."

Taking a shaky breath, trying to control herself, the miko pulled away from Nuriko slightly and turned to face Hotohori. "We were on our way back," she wept. "Tamahome was teasing me because I stole a wonton from Gyokuran's bowl…and everything was normal, but all of a sudden there were big men all around us, and…he told me to run. He stayed to fight them and sent me off on the horse. I didn't want to go, but he hit the horse, hard, and I couldn't stop it running. When I looked back, they had…they had…" Nuriko squeezed her shoulders as she bit her lip. "They had beaten him to the ground, and he wasn't moving…"

"Nuriko," said Hotohori firmly. The purple-haired seishi looked up from comforting Miaka, and saw the emperor's face was hard…but his eyes were sad, for some reason, and he didn't think it had anything to do with Tamahome. "Nuriko. Take Miaka to her room. Tasuki, come with me." He started to move toward the door.

"Hotohori-sama?" Nuriko asked, confused, as Miaka clung to him.

Hotohori turned, focusing on Miaka. "We'll find him, Miaka," he said softly. "I promise. We'll bring him back to you."

Despite the protests of the advisors lining the room, the young emperor strode again toward the door, the red headed bandit at his side. Nuriko's heart swelled at his beloved's kindness: even though Miaka had openly admitted her exclusive love for Tamahome, Hotohori still wanted to save him, for Miaka's sake. But something caught in his throat as he watched his friends leave, and he realized he couldn't let Hotohori go off into danger without him. Looking down at Miaka, though, he knew he couldn't just leave her in the middle of the empty throne room, either; torn, nearly in tears himself, he pulled the girl close to his chest as she sniffled.

He couldn't go. Hotohori-sama had told him to stay with Miaka, and he had to listen to Hotohori-sama…

"What's going on, no da?" 

Nuriko's head shot up, and he saw Chichiri hurrying into the room. Maybe luck was on his side, after all! He wrapped his arm around Miaka's shoulder and steered her in Chichiri's direction, meeting the monk halfway across the room. "Tamahome's in trouble," the crossdresser explained urgently. "Hotohori and Tasuki went to look for him. Chichiri, will you…will you take Miaka to her room, please? I'm going to go after them."

Chichiri caught Miaka as Nuriko gently pushed her into his arms, eying the other man. "Do you need me to go, too, no da?"

Hastily, Nuriko shook his head. "No. I just…" Just what? He was in love with Hotohori, and couldn't bear for the man to be in danger without him there to protect him? How pathetic was that? Hotohori could clearly take care of himself, and yet…

Luckily for him, though, Chichiri didn't wait for a full answer. He nodded slowly. "All right, Nuriko," he said. "You go help them, no da. I'll take care of Miaka. But if you're not back in a few hours, I'm going to come after you."

Nuriko smiled gratefully. "Thank you. It shouldn't be a big deal. Thank you so much, Chichiri." And with that, he bolted after the other two.

He caught up with Tasuki and Hotohori as they were mounting their horses, and without saying anything, hoisted himself up onto one of his own, a mud brown mare with a golden mane. Feeling the others' eyes on him, he glanced over at Tasuki, then at Hotohori, and smiled.

"Where's Miaka?" Hotohori asked somewhat urgently, pulling his own stallion around to the exit.

"She's with Chichiri. She's safe," Nuriko replied, not offering any further explanation to his presence. But Hotohori's eyes softened somewhat, and he nodded in understanding, then trotted his horse outside, followed by Tasuki. As he passed Nuriko, the bandit made a dramatic loving face, batting his eyelashes and holding his hand to his cheek in a parody of his purple haired friend. Nuriko recognized the teasing for what it was and pretended to scowl. 

He knew Hotohori-sama hadn't truly understood why he was coming along instead of staying with Miaka. The emperor probably thought he was doing it out of worry for Tamahome, or out of love for Miaka, as Hotohori himself was doing. In a way, Nuriko was glad Hotohori didn't know the real reason. Tamahome and Miaka played a part in it, of course, but if something happened to Hotohori-sama without Nuriko there to help him, the small seishi would never be able to forgive himself.

Gathering up the reins, colored red for the Imperial Livery of Konan, he followed Tasuki out into the fading light of dusk.

TO BE CONTINUED

A/N Too short again! I probably should have waited until this part was written and put it with the first chapter. If you can call it a chapter. So I can only promise that the next ones will be longer. 

Thanks to all who reviewed! Merigold, bea-chan, and Ryuen, you are my first reviewers ever, so I'm very very grateful to all of you. J 


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